Living Thoughtfully Dying Well

Most persons, especially as they are aging, wonder, “How will I die? Will I have a good death? Will I suffer? How will my family respond? How can we manage the dying process better?” Author Dr. Glen Miller, a retired physician, had his own wake-up call when he suffered a heart attack and determined to help himself and his patients go “gently into that good night.” Dr. Miller emphasizes that good preparation for the inevitable—by individuals and their families—will ease this transitional time of high stress and high emotion. The book brings a unique perspective related to the author’s professional career and personal medical history—doctor of internal medicine who cared for dying patients, healthcare administrator who understands how the healthcare system works, and Christian who thinks that dying can be a natural part of life. All of this is in the context of the author’s own healthcare narrative and his personal search for a good death. With compassion honed by serving overseas among poor and despairing people and the practical ideas gleaned from his medical practice, Dr. Miller provides rich guidance to aging persons to live more fully and to proactively plan for a good death. Born on a farm in northwest Ohio, Glen Miller’s vocation and motivations took him to more than 44 countries. Over 25 years, he played a key role in elevating the local hospital in Bellefontaine, Ohio, to the top rung of small hospitals in the state. Dr. Miller is retired and lives in Goshen, Indiana, with his wife Marilyn. Free downloadable study guide available here.

This “comforting…thoughtful” (The Washington Post) guide to maintaining a high quality of life—from resilient old age to the first inklings of a serious illness to the final breath—by the New York Times bestselling author of Knocking on Heaven’s Door is a “roadmap to the end that combines medical, practical, and spiritual guidance” (The Boston Globe). “A common sense path to define what a ‘good’ death looks like” (USA TODAY), The Art of Dying Well is about living as well as possible for as long as possible and adapting successfully to change. Packed with extraordinarily helpful insights and inspiring true stories, award-winning journalist Katy Butler shows how to thrive in later life (even when coping with a chronic medical condition), how to get the best from our health system, and how to make your own “good death” more likely. Butler explains how to successfully age in place, why to pick a younger doctor and how to have an honest conversation with them, when not to call 911, and how to make your death a sacred rite of passage rather than a medical event. This handbook of preparations—practical, communal, physical, and spiritual—will help you make the most of your remaining time, be it decades, years, or months. Based on Butler’s experience caring for aging parents, and hundreds of interviews with people who have successfully navigated our fragmented health system and helped their loved ones have good deaths, The Art of Dying Well also draws on the expertise of national leaders in family medicine, palliative care, geriatrics, oncology, and hospice. This “empowering guide clearly outlines the steps necessary to prepare for a beautiful death without fear” (Shelf Awareness).

"How can you take the fear of death and turn it into something profound, something positive? What is the alchemy that allows someone who is in a metaphorical desert to turn around and see a flower?"--Tina L. Staley "Death--the last sleep? No, it is the final awakening."--Sir Walter Scott Most of us try to avoid thinking about death until the moment we come face-to-face with it. But when we have the courage to accept our inevitable mortality--and even to contemplate it actively, as a spiritual practice--we open the door to living fully, joyfully, and in complete presence. Living Fully, Dying Well is an investigation into the challenge each of us faces--to embrace all of life, from the beginning to the end. When death approaches, many of us undergo a profound transformation--we let go of old distractions and focus with new clarity on what gives our life meaning. Yet we can invite these profound "deathbed revelations" at any point in our lives by engaging in an honest inquiry into our own mortality. Living Fully, Dying Well provides a doorway to begin your own exploration of the mysteries of death--from the cultural myths about dying, to the personal fears we all share, to the question of what becomes of us beyond this life. Living Fully, Dying Well unfolds as a dialogue between spiritual leaders and medical healers, each of whom brings their own unique perspective to the universal human experience of death. These luminaries offer their stories, their insights, and their most valuable practices, all to transform death from a source of fear to an opportunity to reveal the true richness of your life. Living Fully, Dying Well has received the following awards: 2010 Gold Independent Publishers Award (IPPY)--Aging/Death & Dying 2010 Gold Nautilus Award--Grieving/Death & Dying 2010 Gold Living Now Award--Grieving/Death & Dying

A Columbia University physician comes across a popular medieval text on dying well written after the horror of the Black Plague and discovers ancient wisdom for rethinking death and gaining insight today on how we can learn the lost art of dying well in this wise, clear-eyed book that is as compelling and soulful as Being Mortal, When Breath Becomes Air, and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. As a specialist in both medical ethics and the treatment of older patients, Dr. L. S. Dugdale knows a great deal about the end of life. Far too many of us die poorly, she argues. Our culture has overly medicalized death: dying is often institutional and sterile, prolonged by unnecessary resuscitations and other intrusive interventions. We are not going gently into that good night—our reliance on modern medicine can actually prolong suffering and strip us of our dignity. Yet our lives do not have to end this way. Centuries ago, in the wake of the Black Plague, a text was published offering advice to help the living prepare for a good death. Written during the late Middle Ages, ars moriendi—The Art of Dying—made clear that to die well, one first had to live well and described what practices best help us prepare. When Dugdale discovered this Medieval book, it was a revelation. Inspired by its holistic approach to the final stage we must all one day face, she draws from this forgotten work, combining its wisdom with the knowledge she has gleaned from her long medical career. The Lost Art of Dying is a twenty-first century ars moriendi, filled with much-needed insight and thoughtful guidance that will change our perceptions. By recovering our sense of finitude, confronting our fears, accepting how our bodies age, developing meaningful rituals, and involving our communities in end-of-life care, we can discover what it means to both live and die well. And like the original ars moriendi, The Lost Art of Dying includes nine black-and-white drawings from artist Michael W. Dugger. Dr. Dugdale offers a hopeful perspective on death and dying as she shows us how to adapt the wisdom from the past to our lives today. The Lost Art of Dying is a vital, affecting book that reconsiders death, death culture, and how we can transform how we live each day, including our last.

Attitudes to death and dying are changing in the United States. Today, we are living longer, yet with the acute awareness that what we do now will affect our remaining time. Prompted by a big push from baby boomers, our society is moving towards a culture that provides a greater array of positive choices in the final phase of our lives. This should inspire all of us to find new ways to create joy and comfort until the very last moment of life. Written by Social Sciences Professor Dr. Judy Stevens-Long, author of the bestselling book Adult Life, with Dr. Dohrea Bardell, a Fellow at the Institute for Social Innovation, this book contains all the information you need to ensure that the last years of your life, or the life of someone you love, will be as satisfying, comfortable, and as productive as possible.

"Every life is different, but every death is the same. We live with others. We die alone." In his riveting, artfully written memoir The Autobiography of an Execution, David Dow enraptured readers with a searing and frank exploration of his work defending inmates on death row. But when Dow's father-in-law receives his own death sentence in the form of terminal cancer, and his gentle dog Winona suffers acute liver failure, the author is forced to reconcile with death in a far more personal way, both as a son and as a father. Told through the disparate lenses of the legal battles he's spent a career fighting, and the intimate confrontations with death each family faces at home, THINGS I'VE LEARNED FROM DYING offers a poignant and lyrical account of how illness and loss can ravage a family. Full of grace and intelligence, Dow offers readers hope without cliché and reaffirms our basic human needs for acceptance and love by giving voice to the anguish we all face--as parents, as children, as partners, as friends--when our loved ones die tragically, and far too soon.

With efficiency and a touch of humor, this valuable guidebook offers information on the difficult subject of planning for one's own death or organizing funerals for loved ones. Topics ranging from cremation, burial, caskets, services, and organ donation are explored, and each section offers data, definitions, examples, pros and cons, and helpful worksheets for narrowing down the best options. Numerous sidebars that offer engaging and occasionally bizarre facts on the death industry are also included. Emphasizing practicality and frugality, a bevy of money-saving steps are explored, citing that if smart choices are made beforehand then expensive choices made in grief can be avoided. Ideal for the time-constrained, this comprehensive resource presents fast facts in an easy-to-read format, while helpful links for each topic are compiled in an accompanying website. Readers will benefit from the peace of mind that follows the creation of a structured plan to reduce the financial burdens and emotional distress on loved ones left behind.

In the second volume of his trilogy, Petrinovich presents a detailed account of the dilemmas that humans in technologically advanced societies face when confronted by matters of life, death, and medical treatment. The issues he discusses include genetic screening, the Human Genome Project, criteria for defining death, organ donation and transplantation, and assisted suicide and euthanasia. Petrinovich also discusses healthcare policy issues such as the allocation of scarce medical resources and rationing. He argues for adequate health care as a fundamental moral necessity and makes a number of policy recommendations.(Published in cloth by Plenum Press, 1996)